Metabolic Engineering of Shikimic Acid Biosynthesis Pathway for the Production of Shikimic Acid and Its Branched Products in Microorganisms: Advances and Prospects

The shikimate pathway is a necessary pathway for the synthesis of aromatic compounds. The intermediate products of the shikimate pathway and its branching pathway have promising properties in many fields, especially in the pharmaceutical industry. Many important compounds, such as shikimic acid, quinic acid, chlorogenic acid, gallic acid, pyrogallol, catechol and so on, can be synthesized by the shikimate pathway. Among them, shikimic acid is the key raw material for the synthesis of GS4104 (Tamiflu^®), an inhibitor of neuraminidase against avian influenza virus. Quininic acid is an important intermediate for synthesis of a variety of raw chemical materials and drugs. Gallic acid and catechol receive widespread attention as pharmaceutical intermediates. It is one of the hotspots to accumulate many kinds of target products by rationally modifying the shikimate pathway and its branches in recombinant strains by means of metabolic engineering. This review considers the effects of classical metabolic engineering methods, such as central carbon metabolism (CCM) pathway modification, key enzyme gene modification, blocking the downstream pathway on the shikimate pathway, as well as several expansion pathways and metabolic engineering strategies of the shikimate pathway, and expounds the synthetic biology in recent years in the application of the shikimate pathway and the future development direction.     

Novel superabsorbent polymer composites based on α-cellulose and modified zeolite: synthesis,characterization, water absorbency and water retention capacity

Cellulose - Most superabsorbent polymers (SAPs) are prepared based on synthetic polymers (from petroleum resources), making them costly, nondegradable, and not ecofriendly. To overcome these...     

THE COURSE OF “STRUCTURAL MODEL DESIGN AND FABRICATION”

“知行统一” 的观念在教育界已深入人心,但是要做到切实履行却非易事。经过为期九年的精心打造,上海交通大学开设的创新型实践课程“结构模型设计与制作” 初步实现了“学与行” 的有机融合,教学效果显著,深受学生欢迎。本文是对该课程的总结与反思,希望对我国相关工科教学改革起到有益的借鉴作用。     

A new class of functionalized polyoxometalates: synthesis, structure and preliminary antitumor activity studies of three arylimido substituted hexamolybdates bearing a strong electron-withdrawing nitro group, (Bu4N)2[Mo6O18([triple bond]NAr)] (Ar = 3-NO2-C6H4, 2-CH3-4-NO2-C6H3, 2-CH3-5-NO2-C6H3)

Three novel mono-functionalized arylimido derivatives of hexamolybdate bearing the strongest electron-withdrawing nitro group, (Bu(4)N)(2)[Mo(6)O(18)([triple bond, length as m-dash]NAr)] (, and ), have been synthesized for the first time by an improved reaction of octamolybdate ion and 3-nitroaniline hydrochloride, 2-methyl-4-nitroaniline hydrochloride and 2-methyl-5-nitroaniline hydrochloride respectively with DCC (N,N'-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide) as a dehydrating agent. Complete assignments were achieved for the title compounds by elemental analysis, IR, (1)H NMR, UV/visible and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. The preliminary antitumor activity test indicated that the title compounds have some effects on the cellular growth inhibition of K562 cells.     

1,5-二取代六氢三嗪-2-N-硝基亚胺的合成和杀虫活性的测定

以S-甲基-N-硝基异硫脲、取代苄胺为原料,依次经过亲核取代反应,Mannich反应合成了12个未见文献报道的1,5-二取代六氢三嗪-2-N-硝基亚胺(2a～21),结构经1H NMR,IR和元素分析确证.初步的杀虫活性测试表明,该类化合物在500mg/L时对稻飞虱具有较好的杀虫活性.     

石墨烯及其复合材料吸油性能研究进展

石油化工产品在国民经济生活中占有重要地位,但在石油开采和运输过程中漏油事件频发,对海洋生态环境造成重大污染.物理吸附除油方式以其成本低、污染小、可回收利用、操作简单等优点得到广泛应用.传统吸附材料往往具有双亲性,选择吸附性较差,需要进行表面疏水处理.石墨烯凭借其超大比表面积和亲油疏水的特性引起广泛关注.重点综述了石墨烯...     

Plasmon Coupling-Induced Hot Electrons for Photocatalytic Hydrogen Generation

We present the fabrication of core-shell-satellite Au@SiO₂-Pt nanostructures and demonstrate that LSPR excitation of the core Au nanoparticle can induce plasmon coupling effect to initiate photocatalytic hydrogen generation from decomposition of formic acid. Further studies suggest that the plasmon coupling effect induces a strong local electric field between the Au core and Pt nanoparticles on the SiO₂ shell, which enables creation of hot electrons on the non-plasmonic-active Pt nanoparticles to participate hydrogen evolution reaction on the Pt surface. In addition, small SiO₂ shell thickness is required in order to obtain a strong plamon coupling effect and achieve efficient photocatalytic activities for hydrogen generation.     

Machine learning dielectric screening for the simulation of excited state properties of molecules and materials

Accurate and efficient calculations of absorption spectra of molecules and materials are essential for the understanding and rational design of broad classes of systems. Solving the Bethe–Salpeter equation (BSE) for electron–hole pairs usually yields accurate predictions of absorption spectra, but it is computationally expensive, especially if thermal averages of spectra computed for multiple configurations are required. We present a method based on machine learning to evaluate a key quantity entering the definition of absorption spectra: the dielectric screening. We show that our approach yields a model for the screening that is transferable between multiple configurations sampled during first principles molecular dynamics simulations; hence it leads to a substantial improvement in the efficiency of calculations of finite temperature spectra. We obtained computational gains of one to two orders of magnitude for systems with 50 to 500 atoms, including liquids, solids, nanostructures, and solid/liquid interfaces. Importantly, the models of dielectric screening derived here may be used not only in the solution of the BSE but also in developing functionals for time-dependent density functional theory (TDDFT) calculations of homogeneous and heterogeneous systems. Overall, our work provides a strategy to combine machine learning with electronic structure calculations to accelerate first principles simulations of excited-state properties.

Machine learning can circumvent explicit calculation of dielectric response in first principles methods and accelerate simulations of optical properties of complex materials at finite temperature.     

Single-Molecule Photoactivation FRET: A General and Easy-To-Implement Approach To Break the Concentration Barrier

Single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (sm-FRET) has become a widely used tool to reveal dynamic processes and molecule mechanisms hidden under ensemble measurements. However, the upper limit of fluorescent species used in sm-FRET is still orders of magnitude lower than the association affinity of many biological processes under physiological conditions. Herein, we introduce single-molecule photoactivation FRET (sm-PAFRET), a general approach to break the concentration barrier by using photoactivatable fluorophores as donors. We demonstrate sm-PAFRET by capturing transient FRET states and revealing new reaction pathways during translation using μm fluorophore labeled species, which is 2–3 orders of magnitude higher than commonly used in sm-FRET measurements. sm-PAFRET serves as an easy-to-implement tool to lift the concentration barrier and discover new molecular dynamic processes and mechanisms under physiological concentrations.